37. A Macabre Deception
Unbeknownst to the Spanish and German intelligence services, British intelligence had engineered it all. Codenamed Operation Mincemeat, the British had gone to great – and macabre – lengths, just to place the contents of Major Martin’s briefcase in German hands.
“Major Martin” was not even a British officer. The drowned corpse was that of a homeless drifter taken from a London morgue. The cadaver was gussied up, dressed in an officer’s uniform, furnished with identification papers and a briefcase secured to it by a courier’s chain, then dumped off the Spanish coast. The hope was that the corpse – and most importantly the briefcase attached to it – would be recovered by the Spanish, and shared with the Germans.